Study shows potential dangers of sweeteners

http: // dx. doi. org / 10. 3390 / ijms22105228

Explanation

According to a study published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, common artificial sweeteners can make previously thought healthy gut bacteria sick, invade the gut wall, and cause serious health problems.

The most widely used artificial sweeteners are saccharin, sucralose and aspartame. Past studies have shown that artificial sweeteners can alter the environment of bacteria in the gut, but a new molecular study led by academics at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) shows that sweeteners can also change bacteria into pathogenic ones. And it found that the transformed pathogens can attach to, invade, and kill Caco-2 cells, the epithelial cells that line the intestinal wall.

This mechanism allows bacteria such as E. faecalis to pass through the intestinal wall and collect in the lymph nodes, liver, and spleen, causing a number of infections, including sepsis.

We found that all three artificial sweeteners in concentrations equivalent to two cans of diet soft drinks significantly increased the attachment of both E.coli and E.faecalis to Caco-2 cells in the intestine, and discriminately increased biofilm formation. The proliferated bacteria are less susceptible to antimicrobial resistance therapy and are more likely to secrete toxins and thus express virulence factors, according to the study.

This is not the full text, but it shows a new risk factor in the known risks of artificial sweeteners. But what kind of diseases are we more likely to get from these effects? However, the causal relationship between these effects and which diseases are more likely to occur has not been shown, so we must be careful in our interpretation.